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Old 11-12-2006, 02:55 PM   #1
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Expedition / Excursion owners

Just in the info gathering stage but I was wondering what ownersw of these big suvs think about them as a tow vehicle/ driver.
I am open to suggestions but 5.4 gas tow package equipped seems to be my possible choice.
Is the V10 worth looking at? I am familiar with the 7.3 PSD so no need to tell me how terrific it is. Gas powered is my more likely target.
Is the Excursion a 250 frame underneath and the Expedition a 150?
Any thoughts are appreciated.
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Old 11-12-2006, 03:18 PM   #2
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We just got through towing to Colorado and back this season with our 2000 V-10 Excursion. Went from Louisiana to SouthFork, Colorado with a 26' SunnyBrook (my 31' Sovereign wasn't ready). The SunnyBrook weighs in somewhere around 6,500 loaded with no fluids. The Excursion turned in a solid 12mpg all the way to New Mexico at 62mph and then it went to a rock solid 9.5mpg in the mountains. Not too bad for the power and comfort. Yep, the Excursion is essentially an F-250 with a shell. Most parts for the Super Duty will fit the Excursion (frame mounted anyway). As for an Excursion with the 5.4....in my opinion, too much truck and not enough engine. Most of the 8 or 9mpg horror stories come from the 5.4 owners that I have met. The V-10 will get the same mileage or in our case better and provide much more power and torque. Ours has 60,000 miles on it and it runs great, no problems at all. Hope it helps.
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Old 11-13-2006, 10:44 AM   #3
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yes thanks, what of the V10 reliability any stories out there?
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Old 11-13-2006, 01:33 PM   #4
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I had a 5.4 Expedition when we towed the '74 Tradewind. I thought it was pretty maxxed out on towing capacity for that setup. Got just over 8 mpg. Moved up to a 7.3 Excursion when we upgraded to the 32'. Tows like a dream, have to keep checking the rearview mirror to see if it's still back there. Do better than 14 mpg with the diesel.
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Old 11-13-2006, 02:57 PM   #5
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Sounds good thanks
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Old 11-13-2006, 05:31 PM   #6
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Alan,

Our '99 E-350 had the 5.4 with a 3:55 rear end and it really struggled on hills with the Overlander. Normal highway mileage of 15-16 mpg dropped to about 8-10 mpg while towing.

The 5.4 is a great motor and I have one in my '01 F-150 and it tows the boat (about 3500 lbs) fine, but I don't think I'd want to take the Sovereign very far with it.

I think you need to accurately assess your towing plans. We upgraded to diesel because I envisioned us travelling the country (hasn't happened yet) and after our one cross country trip to Colorado, I wasn't disappointed. But if you're going to stay local, a diesel could be overkill.

The V-10 sure is in a lot of class C motorhomes though!
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Old 11-13-2006, 06:36 PM   #7
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I heard that those V10s are in tons of buses and such in Europe. They supposedly used for 500,000 miles or more.
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Old 11-13-2006, 06:51 PM   #8
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Alan, you've undoubtedly read my tales with the Excursion and towing. I love ours and wouldn't trade it for anything (but the Duramax/Allison Sub someday maybe...)

The Behemoth was at the top end of what I was comfortable towing with the Ex. The new 25' Bigfoot doesn't even seem like it's behind it sometimes. There's that much difference, and the Excursion is such a competent tow vehicle.

We have the 2000 4WD V10 with the 3.73 rear end that we towed the Behemoth with. If you get one, you'll want to put better shocks under it than stock, make sure it's got load range "E" tires on it, install LandYot's radius rods, make sure you have a Helwig 36mm rear sway bar under the suspension and you'll be good to go. I'd avoid the 5.4l Excursions and the V10s with the 4.11's. Both get the rumored 9mpg. I average about 13-14 around town with mine, and with a K&N intake kit, I get about 17 mpg at freeway speed on trips (not towing, of course).

The only problems that the V10s have are after the plugs have been changed, some of the heads will spit plugs. It's a common enough occurrance that there is a special helicoil style solid insert that mechanics install to replace the threads on plugs. Apparently it's only on some of the heads, and I'm not sure anyone has nailed down how you can tell if it's prevalent on a specific engine. Other than that, they're pretty bullet-proof.

The Excursion has a 3/4 ton chassis and the Expedition the 1/2 ton. The reason for the suspension mods I recommended are that the Ex only has a 4 spring rear stack, where the Superduty trucks have an 8 spring stack. The four springs aren't sufficient to keep the rear axle centered under the Ex, so you end up with rear-axle steering under load; not a fun thing when driving normally, and cause a white-knuckle experience when towing! If you do those couple of mods, the Ex tows like it's on rails. I wouldn't recommend the Expedition for serious towing; it's just not heavy enough.

Roger
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Old 11-13-2006, 08:02 PM   #9
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We have a 2000 Expedition with the small engine and have towed a 25' Airstream since the fall of 2003 with it averaging 10-12 mpg towing. Yes it is built on the 150 frame. We now have a new vehicle and chose to get a longer wheel base and bigger engine with the 3/4 ton Suburban. The Expedition isn't all the power you would want but it could be all you need. We never had any real problems with it, though under some conditions tiring and less stable than a heavier longer vehicle would handle. Acceleration and climbing will be where you may feel it fall short.
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Old 11-13-2006, 08:49 PM   #10
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Go for the Diesel

Alan,
This is me and my F-250 gas 5.4L which weights less than the Excursion
Since my little accident gave me an opportunity to upgrade I went to a 6.0L Diesel. This is Michelle Towing her 8,000 pound trailer up hill at 7,000 Feet. .
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Old 11-13-2006, 10:49 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ALANSD
Just in the info gathering stage but I was wondering what ownersw of these big suvs think about them as a tow vehicle/ driver.
I am open to suggestions but 5.4 gas tow package equipped seems to be my possible choice.
Is the V10 worth looking at? I am familiar with the 7.3 PSD so no need to tell me how terrific it is. Gas powered is my more likely target.
Is the Excursion a 250 frame underneath and the Expedition a 150?
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Hi, ALANDS. Did you say what you were planning on towing with these trucks? If you did, I missed it. This is my opinion; An F-250 or Excursion by themselves are too heavy for a 5.4 L engine. An Expedition with 5.4 L engine will tow 25' or less OK. Don't even consider a 4.6 L Expedition. I tow a 25' Safari with a [2000] 5.4 L Lincoln, but that's a different animal of the same size. [A lot more horsepower and torque] Note in the 25' range, I would not include the 1,000 lb heavier Classic.


Bob
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Old 11-13-2006, 10:59 PM   #12
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The 5.4 and the v-10 do in fact blow out the sparkplug and the the threads .
word is that Ford does the repair in the vehical with the intake and all removed if your doing all or the rear plugs ,the fronts will be easier , the plugs and threads that hold them in are down 4" into the head at the bottom of the spark plug tube hole,as most are on many engines.so Id see if this repair has been done when purchasing these vehicals .
The new Ford prefered thread insert is pinned in the head to prevent any
further stripping out ,but is done with the heads off,but again Ford is doing
these repairs without pulling heads ,all in all it can be extremely expensive
to have the repair work done .Now other than that main thing ,these engines
have been very good over all in other repects ,reliable strong running .

Scott of scottanlily
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Old 11-13-2006, 11:06 PM   #13
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I've heard "horror stories" about the fuel mileage on the V-10s, yet that doesn't seem to be the experience here. Yes? No?
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Old 11-13-2006, 11:42 PM   #14
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Hi, I can't conferm it, but people I work with at the Ford dealer say that the V-10's are quite thirsty.

Bob
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Old 11-14-2006, 05:39 AM   #15
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The V-10s with the 4.11 rear end are gas hogs at highway speed. The 3.73 rear end is adequate for towing up to the Excursion's max towing capacity, and will get from 4-6mpg better mileage under all conditions. See my post above. Another sales point for me that is seldom discussed is that first, with maintenance the 3/4 ton chassis will last about as long as you want to keep it. You can always do engine and tranny transplants, but as long as the body and frame are in good shape, you have a competent tow vehicle. Second is that the Excursion is about 80% recycleable at the end of its service life, compared to about 40% for most conventional autos. I thought that was really significant in terms of being "green", especially when you're talking about 7,000 lbs of 'stuff' vs. 3,500 lbs of 'stuff'. The Excursion is still being panned as an environmentalist's nightmare when, in fact, it's one of the better products out there in terms of being environmentally sound. It has the potential for having a service life of two or three times that of a conventional auto with an attendant savings in production energy and waste products. It's only real shortcoming is gas mileage, and with a solid 14-15mpg that I get, for a 7,000 lb tow vehicle even that's not too bad! And, of course, mine just sits in the garage most of the time unless I'm going on a trip or need seating for eight.

Roger
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Old 11-14-2006, 05:39 AM   #16
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I had a '99 F250 4x4 crew cab with the V-10 and 4:30 gears. Mileage was 10-11 MPG towing and 14 MPG highway. Truck was equipped with a K&N filercharger (I swear by them) and a custom exhaust system. I was towing a 34' Featherlight gooseneck car hauler with living quarters. 10,000# empty! Sold the F-250 to my brother with 75,000 miles and he's using it as a welding truck and just turned 100,000 with out any problems.
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Old 11-14-2006, 06:58 AM   #17
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While our Excursion is a 6.0PSD and tows great, we also have the V-10 in a class C motorhome and it's a great engine, if a bit noisy. That engine's longevity in motorhomes should be evidence of its quality and power.

The Excursion is my favorite car. :-) I wanted one for years before we got it and, other than some minor and common 6.0 problems, we love it.
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Old 11-14-2006, 09:48 AM   #18
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I understood that the Excursion plug issues were mostly before the 2002 models. Is that right?
My deal is this- I have the 97 F250 7.3, which runs well, andhas just over 200k on it. It's a diesel..stinky, smoky etc. My wife is not thrilled with it, and the hard ride is hard for her to take for a long trip.
I tow my AS maybe once a month right now, although we will do a 5-6 hr trip each way in the spring and hope to do a longer one in the Summer.
So I am looking for something I can drive to work daily, tow the AS as needed, and will cost me less than 15000 used.
Choices I am considering are F150 2002 and later, Expedition v8 tow package Eddie Bauer ( a good value used). Excurision if I can find the right one, and also Suburbans although I have gotten mixed reviews on the transmissions, etc and their ability to hold up while towing.
I also just might keep the truck I have if I can't put the right deal together. We have had it not 6 months, and I could keep it until Spring while searching for the right replacement.
I appreciate all the input here it is good to hear practical experiences.
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Old 11-14-2006, 11:06 AM   #19
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Apparently, Alan, the problem continues through the '06 models. I haven't been able to determine whether most of the incidents are pre- or post- sparkplug change, and although #3 cylinder is a regular, it can apparently happen in any of them. It appears to be a problem across the engine line, not merely on the V10s. The 6 cyl and 8 cyl engines also have had complaints. I've read some places that the torque specs on a spark plug change are critical for those aluminum head engines. My Y2K Ex has the original plugs in it yet at 67k miles. It would also be interesting to know what percentage of engines built have failed due to spitting plugs. Several thousand engines in pool of millions may be a pretty statistically insignificant number. It's not, of course, if you have one of those that failed but still it would be interesting to know.

Roger
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Old 11-14-2006, 01:35 PM   #20
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Current issue of Trailer Life (arrived today) has an article about the new Expedition and Expedition EL. Sounds like new stiffer "boxed" frame and towing capacity of around 9,000#. May be close to current Suburban specs.

Tom R in Two Harbors, MN

P.S. Not much out there over 10,000#...except for the 250's and up pickem up trucks
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